


No Place To Die

by esama



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe, Character Death Fix, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-20 23:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1530392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/pseuds/esama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Severus meets one Mutou Yugi on the edge of life and death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net around 2010  
> Proofread by Darlene and Ladyenterprize

Severus woke up with a gurgling gasp, pain soaring through him like Fiendfyre, burning through his veins and muscles. But at the same time he felt weak and cold, unable to move. It was the poison, he knew. Poison and blood loss. _'What a lovely combination,'_ he couldn't help but think. The poison of the Horcrux snake would make his death slow and painful. The blood loss made sure that he couldn't do anything about it.

Opening his eyes weakly, the former Headmaster of Hogwarts looked around. It had to be former because he knew he would die here, from the wound. Easier to think that it was simply a wound, and not his throat ripped open, blood still gushing out and poison running through his veins. Yes. Just a wound. Lethal maybe, but still just a wound.

 _'This place. Hah. I bet Potter's laughing in his grave,'_ the dying man thought with mirthless humour while weakly taking in his surroundings. It was cold, dark and dirty but he could still tell where he was. The shrieking shack, right in the same damned place where Sirius Black had tried to kill him all those years ago. _'He didn't get to kill me by Werewolf's bite, but I still die in this loathsome place and by a bite…'_

It would have been a lie to say that he had not seen it coming. No, he’d been expecting it for longer than Harry Potter had been alive. And when Harry had lived where Lily had died, he had been hoping for it. Dying itself didn't bother him and he had suffered through enough pain during his life time to ignore it. It was dying like this and in this place that bothered him - and that he hadn't been able to completely fulfil Albus' wishes before his death.

 _'Well no matter. As much as I hate the brat, Potter will figure it out. He has my memories…'_ Severus thought back to the rather puzzling encounter with the three former students after the Dark Lord had ensured his death. He didn't have the energy to even wonder how they had been there or why, but he was glad that they had been there. _'He isn't completely useless. He'll figure it out. And if not him, then Granger will. They'll… figure it out.'_

All he could wish at this point was for Potter to realise that living on as he did, with a piece of the Dark Lord stuck in his head, wasn't a good idea. As he was now, the Dark Lord was bad enough, but should he gain control of Potter's body and magic… No, the world didn't need that. As stupid as the plan seemed, Severus couldn't help but hope, wish and even trust that it would pull through. It was Albus' plan after all. It had to work.

 _'Well, now that all had been said and done, I have to admit that Albus was a few pieces away from a full chess set,'_ the potions master thought, closing his eyes and trying to fight back the urge to cough the blood out of his mouth. Doing so would probably open the wound in his neck even wider than it was… though in the end it didn't really matter, did it? _'Either way, I'm going to die…'_

The man frowned weakly and turned his head to the side to look at the place he was in. _'No. Not here. I don't want to die in this forsaken place,'_ he thought determinedly, reaching weakly with his hand, trying to find his wand. If he was going to die then he damn well would chose the place for himself. This… _shack_ wasn't it. _'If I stay here, Potter will know where to find my body and bury it, but…'_ he didn't really care if they managed to bury him properly or not. At that point he'd be long gone and it wouldn't really matter to him.

There it was; his wand, his trusted companion for many years. It felt lifeless in his weak fingers, but at the same time the feel of the wood was familiar and almost comforting. _'Hah. Sentimentality before death, how unbecoming of me,'_ but on second thought, at least his life wasn't passing before his eyes. _'Anymore.'_

Gathering the needed energy wasn't easy and all the while he was getting weaker and groggier. The poison was getting into his mind and making everything hazy,while the blood loss was siphoning the rest of his strength away. _'Better do it now, soon I'll be unable to do it at all…'_ With that thought, he braced himself as much as he could and Disapparated, fully expecting to splinch himself.

As he felt the magic working, he could immediately tell that it was different. The usual tight feeling wasn't there; instead it felt like he fell right through the ground under him. And then he continued to fall, even while feeling like he was still lying on his side without moving at all. His wand was swept from his fingers and still he continued to fall.

Struggling to open his eyes, Severus saw only darkness and shadows around him, even more so that in the shack. He had gone _somewhere_ , but it wasn't the place he had meant to go. Or any place he knew. This place felt… strange and wrong somehow. Like it had different gravity and air pressure, whilst truly having neither. Even while gasping for breath he couldn't really breathe, and though he was falling he was also laying on a surface and floating in nothingness. It made no sense.

 _'I died,'_ the man thought with a finality and felt like laughing. _'Either just before Disapparating or during it but… I died.'_

The afterlife didn't really seem to be what he had expected though. It was cold and dark and… felt oddly dangerous. And though the pain was slowly fading to the back as something utterly meaningless, he felt weaker than before, like the place around him was siphoning away some deeper strength he hadn't even known he had but desperately needed.

Then he heard something, whispered snarls and growls like wolves circling around him in the darkness. "Who's there?" the man asked, his voice nothing but a weak croak. No one answered, but the sounds in the darkness got louder. Snaps and clacks like something hitting against something, whimpers of words spoken in foreign languages, the hissing of serpents and lizards and the dangerous purring of felines. And something more. Like the slow, growling breathing of dragons, only much more threatening.

Now feeling more than slightly disturbed, the potions master was forced to wonder if this was the afterlife at all. It felt more like what muggles called Hell. Wizards of course believed in no such nonsense, but this wasn't the afterlife he’d been expecting, definitely not. _'And I have certainly done enough crimes and committed enough sins to go to Hell,'_ he thought with a weak, painful swallow.

As the sounds got louder and closer, the weakened man closed his eyes. _'Fine. I'm done. I'm done fighting and trying when there is no hope. Just get it over with…'_

Only nothing happened for a long while. The darkness remained the same and the sounds continued their distant, threatening cacophony, but that was it. For a while he wondered if this would be it for him now on; existence on the brink of threat, endlessly fearing attack from some unknown beast… but finally four shapes emerged from the shadows, mere shadows against shadows until they stepped closer and out of the darkness. Severus frowned at the sight of them, having been expecting something completely different.

The first one was a man wearing purple armour with the strangest helmet. Beside him there was an elderly man with a beard and similar armour, though this one was also wearing a cape. The purple armoured man was being followed by a blonde girl with clothing that showed more than it covered. And finally, staying in the back and emerging only partially out of the shadows, there stood a man wearing only leather from head to toe with a strange, split helmet on his head.

 _'What in the name of Merlin…?'_ Severus wondered as the purple armoured man stepped closer, carrying a metallic rod in his hand. Something told the potions master that the four before him were magic users - but immediately after something else told him that they used no magic he knew. And these… people were most certainly not human. _'Demons?'_ he wondered, though the thought was just preposterous. No such things existed.

"Who are you?" Severus demanded to know weakly. "Where am I?"

The purple armoured man blinked sharply at the words but didn't answer. As he turned to the elder man and spoke something in a foreign language, Severus realised that he didn't understand at all. _'How typical,'_ the former headmaster thought. _'I go to a Hell where no one speaks English.'_

The four demons spoke amongst themselves, or the two purple armoured men did anyway. The girl seemed content letting the others speak and the one standing almost in the shadows just glared at the lot of them without bothering to say anything. Finally the younger and elder of the two armoured men came to some sort of agreement. But, as the purple armoured man moved to leave, the leather clad man said something that stopped him. They exchanged a few foreign words before the man wearing leather turned and vanished into the shadows.

Then no one said anything. The demons, or whatever they were, merely stood around Severus and stared. At first Severus was annoyed, wishing that they would just get over with whatever they wanted to do. But soon he realised that they were waiting for something. Or for someone to arrive.

It seemed to take an eternity but finally the leather clad man returned, this time not staying in the edge of light. As the leather clad man walked closer Severus realised that he was biggest of the lot - and that on top of all the leather he wore, he was covered in belts and buckles. This time he wasn't alone, though. There was a boy sitting on his shoulder - and at the sight of that boy, the three demons, who had been waiting, all dropped down to one knee and bowed their heads briefly. As if honouring their master.

The boy he was carrying, though, didn't seem to fit the position of the master of these demons at all. He was small, probably no older than twelve. His hair was even wilder than that of Potters - and the colour would have made even a Weasley hair look dull in comparison. And the worst thing about the whole thing was possibly the fact that the boy was wearing muggle clothing.

As the leather wearing demon kneeled to let the boy down from his shoulder, the boy said something in the foreign language of the demons that made them all quickly stand up. When they did, the boy seemed even smaller and weaker than before, but Severus didn't let that get into his head. _'Appearances can be deceiving,'_ he thought firmly while staring up at the boy. The child had the strangest eyes, stuck somewhere between shades of blue and red.

The boy spoke to him in a new language but though the language sounded familiar, Severus couldn't understand. With a frown the boy stepped closer and spoke again in a different tongue, but this one was no more understandable. Then, finally, the boy sighed with a troubled look about his face and muttered. "I doubt you speak English either…"

"I can," Severus croaked quickly, not wanting the kid to move onto a language he couldn't understand.

"Oh, you can? Excellent," the boy said with a relief. "I was getting worried that I'd have to deal with a language barrier with you. That would have made things difficult. Now, who are you and how did you get here?" the boy asked before giving a slightly troubled look at the wound in the potions master's neck. "And are you dead or alive?"

Severus blinked, not certain if it would be safe to say anything to this child, who could be the lord of demons in disguise for all he knew. But then he figured that at this point it probably didn't matter much. He was already dead. Or dying. "Snape," the potions master croaked. "Severus Snape. And I don't… know where… I am or… if I'm alive."

"Hm. Either way, you can't talk properly with that wound. Give me a moment, I'll have that fixed up right away," the boy turned to the demons around him and said something in the foreign language they spoke. A few words were exchanged before the girl nodded and jumped into the darkness. After a moment, she returned with a blue skinned woman who was wearing a long green dress.

At the boy's order, the woman stepped closer, pressing her hands together as if on prayer. She murmured something under her breath, a spell perhaps. It took a moment before she made a move to release it into Severus, who could feel it starting to repair his neck immediately, with speed and power that would have made Pomfrey more than jealous. Even the distant feeling of burning in his neck vanished. The feeling of growing weakness stayed though.

"Alright, that should be a bit better," the boy spoke, nodding to the woman who bowed her head before returning to the shadows. "At least you're whole now. You should be able to speak easier, at least," he said. As the leather clad man behind him sat down and crossed his feet, the boy flopped down to sit in the man's lap casually as if the man was a chair. "Now, how did you end up here?" he asked, resting his hands on the man's knees like on armrests.

Sitting up carefully, Severus touched his throat. It was completely healed, not even a scar remaining. This was something normal healing magic wouldn't be able to do. "I was trying to Disapparate," he said with a frown. "But instead I ended up here." He threw a look of annoyance around him.

"Disapparate? Oh, you're one of those European magicians! That explains it," the boy nodded in understanding, before laughing somewhat awkwardly. "You guys are some foolhardy lot, popping in and out of this place all the time. It's a wonder no more of you get stuck here."

"Popping in and out… what is this place anyway?" Severus asked, glancing around again.

"What do you think it is?" the boy asked, raising his eyebrows while leaning back onto the chest of the leather clad demon.

"Hell?" the potions master more asked than stated.

He was awarded with a laugh. "Ah, no. But that was close. This is the Shadow Realm," the boy answered, motioning around them. "Home of monsters and magic no man should be exposed to…" the boy chuckled softly. "You European magicians use this place when you teleport, but you don't really seem to know what this place is. You pop in here and then pop out somewhere else…"

"This space is what's between Disapparation and Apparation?" Severus asked with shock. He had never given it much thought, not many had… but now that he thought about it, there were rumours about Disapparations without Apparation - wizards getting lost midway and never coming back.

"Yes. I have no idea how you came about that talent, I wasn't in charge then," the boy shrugged. "I've been working on a way to lock this place up from you people. Teleporting in and out of the Shadow Realm… don't you have any idea how unhealthy that is?"

"Why?" the potions master asked with a frown. "Why exactly is it unhealthy?"

"Because this place devours power and energy. Even now it's slowly but steadily consuming your soul," the boy answered with a slightly worried frown. "You are lucky to have gotten lost here now instead of doing it, say, a few years back. You would've been stranded here with no help back then - and your soul would have been devoured. If not by this place then by the monsters here."

"Really?" Severus swallowed, feeling like the bottom of his stomach had fallen off. Quickly he steeled himself again. "But… if this place devours souls like you say, how come you are fine? Unless you aren't human…"

The boy chuckled. "No, I am human," he assured. "And once this place could affect me even worse than it affects you, trust me. A few minutes here and I was a goner. But that was a few years back and nowadays I come and go here so often that I've… built an immunity, I guess."

"Uhhuh… and who and what are you exactly?"

"Current Judge of Shadows, Inheritor of the Nameless Pharaoh, Light of the Shadow Realm… and so forth. The monsters here, and people who know about them, have a few names and titles for me," the boy grinned. "But most of them are gaudy and useless and usually I go by the name of Yugi Muto."

"You don't look like a pharaoh," Severus stated rather flatly.

"I'm not, just his inheritor," the boy laughed before making a motion with his hand as if to push the matter aside. "But that's not the point here. The point is what to do with you…"

"Can I go back to where I was before I tried to Disapparate?" Severus asked quickly. Going back now that he was healthy again did sound inviting. He could take part in the war, finally do what he had longed to do from the start and try and kill as many of his so called friends as possible - and hopefully ensure the defeat of the Dark Lord in the process.

"Ah, that… that is not really an option anymore," the boy shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but you are unfortunately dead. And you died here," he motioned around them. "Which is never a good idea."

Severus felt the colour draining from his face. "And that means… what?"

"Your body died in this place, so I can't return it to the living world. It wouldn't be able to function properly. And being stuck here means that you will either be devoured until there is nothing left of you, or you will turn into a Shadow Monster, like my magicians," the boy motioned around them and to the demons who still remained watching them before patting the knee of the man in whose lap he was sitting. "But, as you lack the proper training for it, I doubt you'd manage to do that."

"So… I'll be devoured by this place?" the potions master asked with a grimace. "Can't I pass onto the afterlife?"

"No, that is something you gave up when you came here," the boy shrugged. "See, this place gives a measure of immortality in exchange for mortality. And the clause of mortality includes the passage off to the afterlife, something everyone loses when they accept immortality."

"There are _clauses_ about mortality and immortality?" Severus asked with disbelief.

"In a manner of speaking. Every human is born with a mortality clause. Every creature here broke it," the boy, Yugi, shrugged. "As did I. Whether you meant it or not, you also broke your clause when you died here. You are now neither dead nor alive, and because of that you can go neither to Earth nor to the afterlife."

"So I'm _stuck_ here?!"

"For the moment. Don't worry, you're a strong man, you can handle the drain of this place for a while, at least for long enough for me to come up with a way of fixing this. And afterwards, I'm so locking this place up," the boy frowned. "You're the first one to stray here during my reign but I don't want another one."

"But… if this place is what enables Apparation, then… doesn't it mean that they won't be able to if you lock it?" Severus asked with a frown.

"Ah, they'll figure out another way. Their Portkeys and Floo network for one are good methods of travelling, definitely better ways than this one," Yugi nodded determinately while leaning his head back and looking up to the man in whose lap he was sitting. "But what to do with you…"

The leather clad man looked down to the boy enquiringly. Yugi said something to the man in foreign language and for a moment the two conversed between them, leaving Severus feeling slightly awkward, being unable to understand the two. Then the boy lowered his eyes.

"It seems you have three options," he said, raising one finger up. "One, I and the monsters here teach you so that you can become a proper Shadow Monster. You will live here forever; you'll never change and never die. You can only cross the barriers between plains if I, or some other Shadow Master, summons you and at that time you will be forced to do their bidding. Usually it involves fighting, but as you can't die that’s not truly dangerous for you," the boy said.

"I don't particularly care for that option," Severus frowned with irritation. He had spent most of his life fighting for other people. He was more than slightly tired of it.

"I figured you wouldn't. Well, your other option is to die here and fade away to nothingness," Yugi continued, holding two fingers up. "I can speed up the process so that it will be a relatively painless and quick death… but I doubt you like that that option either."

"I really don't."

"Uh-huh. The third option would be a bit trickier," the boy frowned. "You can go back in time to before you got wounded and take that body as your own."

"What?" Severus blinked.

"I can take you a few minutes back to your past, back when you were still alive and in your own body. Your current soul can take the place of the soul in your younger body - though since the souls are essentially one and the same, it wouldn't really make much difference. The body you have now would be lost, along with your younger soul."

"You can do that?" the man asked with disbelief.

"It won't be easy of course, but… this place is everywhere. It doesn't have the barriers most magic is contained in," Yugi shook his head with a mild frown. "It's possible that with some concentration to the time along with the place, you European magicians could have figured out how to time travel while using this place in your teleportation. Thank god you didn't, though, that would have been one fine mess."

The boy shook his head. "Well, anyway. I could take your soul back to your body prior the time you got wounded. You could prevent yourself from even getting the wound, and thus be alive and not in danger of fading away. Or in the least you could die properly."

Severus frowned. "Wait," he said slowly. "How far back you could take me?" he asked as thought came to him.

The boy raised his eyebrows. "You're thinking of changing your past?" he asked softly.

"It wasn't much of a life," the potions master sneered. "As it is I'm barely worth saving. If I could go further back then maybe… maybe I could change things for the better. Prevent some things that… that shouldn't have happened."

The boy before him blinked slowly before turning to look at the leather clad man again. They conversed for a moment before Yugi lowered his eyes to Severus again. "It's possible," he admitted slowly. "But I will not do it."

"Why not?"

"Because the past you would go in is also _my_ past. And if you start tampering with it, there is a chance my past will also change. And that is not something I want," the boy shook his head with a frown. "Even if there are some things in my past I would like to change, I cannot and will not because if I change them, there is no way of telling what in my future will change. Maybe I will die. Maybe the friends I lost will live. Maybe my enemies will triumph where they originally failed. Either way, I cannot take that chance."

"Damn," the potions master murmured.

"I'm sorry. The offer to take you back a few minutes before you got your wound still stands," Yugi stated with a comforting smile.

The potions master shook his head again. "No. Something happened then that shouldn't be changed," he said, thinking back to meeting with Potter. "Can't you take me back to when I tried to Disapparate and heal me while I'm on Earth?"

The boy considered it for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, that can be done. I have to warn you, though. You might not be healed as thoroughly as you were healed here - you were already dead after all, living people are harder to heal since they have to actually carry on functioning…" he turned to speak to the girl demon who skipped off into the darkness, probably in search of the blue-skinned lady again.

"Now," Yugi spoke as the blue skinned woman returned. "Let's rewind your life back a little," he said and snapped his fingers. Severus jumped up to his feet with surprise as the shadows around them seemed to just melt away and suddenly they were in the shrieking shack. The boy and his demon were sitting on the floor while the other demons stood around them - and as Severus watched with wonder, time slowly flowed backwards.

At first nothing seemed to happen before with a strange, mangled crack, he appeared on the floor beside himself. Looking down at himself, the potions master's eyes widened. _'The wound was a whole lot worse than I thought… and does my nose really look like that?'_ he wondered, somewhat self-consciously lifting his hand to touch his nose.

"There we go," Yugi spoke and snapped his fingers again. Time froze and the wounded Severus Snape on the floor stopped moving.

"You can stop time?" Severus, who was standing and still capable of movement, asked with shock. The boy couldn't be a human. Not with this amount of power at his command. _'A god?'_ the potions master couldn't help but wonder with the slightest shudder.

"Oh, nothing as fancy. But I can move people outside of it in a certain way. We're still half way in the Shadow Realm," Yugi said motioning at the shadows whirling in the corners of the room. "And as long as the Shadow Realm is connected, I can control things pretty much however I choose…" with a shrug he gave a nod to the blue skinned woman who moved to heal the Severus on the floor.

"Just out of curiosity, what are you going to do now?" Yugi asked the potions master as the woman kneeled down and started to murmur quietly.

"I have no idea," the man answered with a shake of his head. "But I know I will never Apparate again."

The boy snorted while watching how the blue woman cast her healing spells. "Wise decision," he agreed. "You people shouldn't be able to do it for long anyway."

"It will cause some panic, when people notice that they aren't able to Apparate anymore."

"They'll get over it. And honestly, they're better off without the ability," the boy answered, shifting slightly before settling into an almost snuggled position in the leather clad demon's arms. "Seems like Mystic Elf is done," he said as the woman sat up.

"What do I do now?" Severus asked.

"Come here," the boy motioned and after a moment of hesitation, Severus did as asked. "Give me your hand," the boy demanded and the man did. The boy's hands felt both warm and cold at the same time as he took a tight hold of the man's wrist. "Now step back," Yugi instructed. With confusion, Severus pulled back only to split apart as he did. While he stepped back, another him stayed standing before Yugi with his hand still in the boy's hold.

"This body is contaminated by the shadows and it would just get into the way. You won't need it anyway," the boy shrugged from the floor while tugging the body down to sit on its knees before him. Then Yugi looked up to Severus who was, with a shock, finding that he was transparent. "Now, go and lay down in that one," the boy motioned the freshly healed living body. "Your soul will be able to take it over easily enough."

"And that's it?" Severus asked with disbelief, looking between the two bodies and wondering if he was dreaming the whole thing.

"That's it," Yugi nodded, turning his attention to the body before him. He snapped his fingers once, making shadows whirl over Severus's abandoned dead body and whisk it away as if it was nothing more than a mirage. Then the boy turned his eyes back to Severus and smiled. "Good luck, Severus Snape."

With a slightly nervous swallow, the potions master walked up to the body that was lying on the floor of the  Shrieking Shack. With a last glance at the boy and his demons, he sat down in his body and slowly lay down completely. With a rush of sound and colour and _feeling_ he gained control over the flesh and he could feel himself breathing again. There was pain; his body was still burning with the effects of the poison and still weak with blood loss, but he was alive.

Sighing with relief the potions master looked up to where Yugi had been sitting to thank him… but the boy and his demons were long gone.

 


	2. No Place to Live

"It's not much," Harry Potter had said to him no more than month ago, the last time Severus had visited Grimmauld Place before the brat had started the renovations. "But it's home." Of course back then Severus had pointedly asked how the brat could actually pretend to be humble about the rather large mansion, but naturally Potter had also pretended not to hear. And now, four weeks later, Severus found himself echoing the words.

The place the former headmaster of Hogwarts now lived in couldn't exactly compare to the grandeur of the Black mansion… but the place was home. It was a small cottage in a quiet little village, deep in the woods and out of sight. It had only one floor which only had one bedroom, a sitting room, kitchen and bathroom, but Severus had bought the place for the cellar. It was perfect for a potions laboratory.

It really wasn't much. Even if he compared it to the ghastly state Grimmauld Place had once been in, this place was a heap. But it was perfect for him. Out of the buzzing and bustling of the magical world, out of sight of muggles and, most importantly, far away from Spinners End. Great Merlin was he ever glad to never see that place again. Too many bad memories - and certainly too many good ones.

While sinking into an armchair by a fireplace he’d had to build himself - the place hadn't had one and had formerly been heated by an oven, but as a wizard who never Apparated, he needed a proper fireplace - the potions master sighed. It had been hard to get to this point. Very hard. Half of the Wizarding world had wanted him locked up after the second war had seen its spectacular end - and the other half had wanted him dead. Severus wasn't fool enough not to be aware of the many debts he had piled upon his shoulders to get here.

The main one was for the boy and his demons - Yugi and the Shadows. The second one, perhaps not as great and pressing as the one to Yugi but quite important as well, was for Harry Potter. It was thanks to the brat that he wasn't in Azkaban and hadn't met his end at a Dementor's lips.

It still bewildered him to think that Potter had stood up not only once, but for a solid five days in his defence. The trial for his life - for the lives of all of the rare Death Eaters who had managed to survive to that point - had been long. The unluckiest ones had received the Dementor's kiss. The lucky ones had gotten Azkaban. The ones blessed by something no one could quite name had gotten Harry Potter standing up for them. They had gotten their freedom.

 _'They. Hah. There are just two of us,'_ Severus thought brushing his hand through his hair while allowing his eyes to wander over his living room. Now that he had finally managed to unpack his library, the place looked like home. After all, he had never felt quite as at home as he did when he had half a dozen bookshelves leaning over him. _'Just Draco Malfoy and I were lucky enough for that. Well, Lucius Malfoy too perhaps but to a much lesser degree…'_

Potter hadn't stood for Lucius Malfoy has vehemently as he had stood for Draco, hadn't been as keen on saving him from punishment. Malfoy had done too many wrongs in his eyes for complete pardon, but Potter had still stood for the man. Thanks to that Lucius had gotten fifteen years in Azkaban instead of the Dementor's kiss. A small blessing perhaps, but if the man survived it…

Though, to say that Severus and Draco hadn't suffered any punishments was perhaps wrong. Severus was prohibited from ever leaving the country and he was banned from Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and half a dozen other Wizarding sites. He could still visit Diagon and Knockturn Alleys, but usually he was watched when he did. It was a miracle he hadn't gotten house arrest but he would've even welcomed that if the alternative would have been Azkaban.

Draco and Narcissa on the other hand had had to spend half of their family fortune paying fines and such. Draco was now considering starting some sort of charity organisation to display his good will to the magical world. Whether it was because of his tarnished reputation or because he really wanted to break free from his family's bad history didn't matter. Either way it would take the Malfoy family possibly decades to break free from the shadow of the deeds they had done.

But it was fine. Severus, Narcissa and Draco all agreed on that. As long as they lived, as long as they were free, it was fine. Perhaps one day Lucius would agree as well.

Naturally Severus would never teach again, neither Potions nor Defence Against the Dark Arts nor anything else. Well, to no one else but Harry Potter. Potter had already been made the unofficial Head of the Office of Magical Law Enforcement - Kingsley's brilliant idea no doubt - but that didn't save him from the fact that he had missed a year's worth of education and hadn't written his NEWTs. The same went for Mr. Weasley and Ms Granger, but unlike Potter, they were going to return to Hogwarts for an "eighth" year. Potter wouldn't and he had a demanding job to handle, so he needed private tutors. Severus was one of them.

He couldn't say that he was sad about losing the position of a teacher. It wasn't something he had particularly enjoyed. Once he was done teaching Potter, he'd happily say goodbye to that muddy page of his history, and concentrate on more important things, things he had craved to do for years but hadn't quite gotten the chance. Potions creation for one. Over the years of teaching, he had been coming up with dozens of possible projects but had never had the necessary time for them. Now he did.

 _'It won't be as exciting as the life I've lead so far, though,'_ he mused, staring up to his living room ceiling. Of course the mishaps in the potions classroom and whatever trouble students could get up to were something he wouldn't miss, but there would probably still be a measure of… boredom. Out here, in middle of nowhere, there wouldn't be war or colleagues to bother him, no Albus - or portrait of him - to tell him what to do…

Thinking of Albus and Hogwarts made him think of the Shrieking Shack… and Yugi. Though the temptation had been literally larger than life, he had researched neither the "Judge of Shadows" nor the "Shadow Realm". It had been both hard and easy to do, hard because even now every cell of his body was screaming at him to find out more about the powerful being who had saved him and what were the possible powers of that powerful being… but at the same time Severus was rather certain that he wouldn't be able to find out anything.

If the Dark Lord had known _nothing_ about the Shadows Yugi had seemed to command with flicks of his wrist and snaps of his fingers - and he couldn't have known, because if he had, he would've _used_ those powers - then no one else would know about it either. That thought was both worrisome and somehow relieving. Often now Severus had woken up in cold sweat and horrible _what if_ in his mind. What if the Dark Lord had commanded the same godlike power over death and time that had seemed to reside in Yugi's small yet eerie form? What if the Dark Lord too would have had Yugi's demons at his command?

They would have never won the Second War. Hell, they wouldn't have survived the First War either. That made him both relieved that Yugi had seemed benevolent and scared to death by the mere thought of him. And all the while the worry over the matter of Apparation seemed to pop into his mind. The Daily Prophet had yet to say anything about it and Severus hadn't Apparated even once since his short time in the Shadow Realm, but he was still dreading the moment Yugi would make it impossible.

The most worrisome thought of all that had come to his mind was the fear that the ministry would somehow find out a way to antagonise Yugi once the boy - if Yugi even was a boy - would take Apparation away. If a benevolent being had that much power under his control, what sort of being could Yugi be if he was a malevolent one?

 _'Strange how after all this fighting and warring… I still find myself dreading beings more powerful than myself,'_ the potions master thought with a grimace. Dumbledore was gone and Potter had seen to the Dark Lord's demise, and yet fear still seemed to be part of Severus's life.

It made him almost jealous of the other wizards and witches, still blissfully ignorant of Yugi's existence. Potter knew some, Severus had had to tell him how he had survived after being bitten by Nagini, but even the brat didn't understand. And if fate was merciful, he never would either.

Severus was startled out of his darkening thoughts by a two sharp knocks coming from his front door. Looking up with surprise, the dark man blinked. Then he frowned. There were only a handful of people who knew where he lived - and they had promised Severus never to Apparate in his proximity since it had a tendency of making him nervous these days. So whoever was at the door, it couldn't be a… friend. They would have known to use the Floo.

While standing up, Severus checked that his wand was where it was supposed to be. Then he stepped to the door, glancing through the window in the door, he didn't see anyone at first. Scanning over the still slightly messy yard and the thin, overgrown road leading to it, the man frowned. Then, finally, he turned his eyes downward and saw a spiky haired head.

His heart jumped into his throat and the still lingering scar on his neck seemed to ache in memory. Though the image was slightly distorted by the poor quality of the glass, he still knew that hair colour.

Swiftly Severus unlocked the door and murmured the password to the magical protection in the door - he wasn't foolish enough to protect himself with mere locks after all. Then he pushed the door open to find that the spiky hair was indeed the colour magenta - mostly. The bangs surrounding the young face on other hand could have been made from gold.

"Yugi," Severus spoke, his voice slightly choked as he took in the other's appearance. The short figure was still wearing muggle clothing, but instead of the casual ones of before, Yugi was wearing a dark blue muggle suit with the jacket casually open and the black tie slightly lose.

"Hello, Severus Snape," the boy greeted him. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"Ah… no, of course not," the man quickly assured, falling into a nervous silence for a moment before speaking awkwardly. "I, uh… I didn't expect to see you again."

"Hoped, more likely," Yugi chuckled, pushing his hands into his trouser pockets. "No need to make excuses, I understand. It's natural really," he assured casually before Severus could even try to take back the insult he hadn't even made. "Can I come in? I have something I wish to discuss with you, and your porch might not be the best place to do it."

"Yes, yes, of course," the potions master said and quickly stepped aside the let the petite being inside. As Yugi took in his small sitting room, the man felt the urge to explain. "I know it's not much," he said, forcing back a cringe for actually using Potter's words.

"I think it looks lovely," Yugi said with a calm smile, making the other wonder if he was being patronised or not. "Certainly better looking than the last place you were in."

"Yes, well, that place was abandoned long ago, it doesn't take much to look better than that," Severus murmured and closed the door. "Can I offer you anything?"

"No need," the boy waved the offer aside, eyeing Severus’ fireplace curiously before turning to look at the man. He smiled slightly. "I can see I'm making you nervous so perhaps it's best I get straight to the point," he then said. "I need to make contact with an individual who, I believe, is part of your society. However, though I know some of your abilities, I know next to nothing about your society or manners. So, frankly, I'm not sure how to approach this person."

The boy frowned slightly, obviously bothered by the matter. "You are the only European magician I have had contact with," he then spoke. "So, I'm afraid, you're the only person I could approach for help."

Severus blinked. "You want my help to approach a wizard?" he asked with surprise. He couldn't help but feel relieved that this wasn't about _him_ personally. For a moment he had been afraid that Yugi had later decided having Severus know something about him was danger to him - honestly, he had thought the boy had come to take him back to the Shadow Realm, this time permanently.

But what Yugi did want wasn't easy either. "Who… who is it that you want to meet?" Severus asked carefully. It wasn't like he had any true connections to the magical world's higher ups these days. Kingsley had never exactly been a friend and though he did have a… friendship of sorts with Potter now, it couldn't be called _close_. "And why?" he quickly added because the damage Yugi could do, meeting the wrong person, was a scary thought.

Yugi raised his eyebrows slightly and for a moment Severus was certain that the boy could read his mind. But then his guest smiled. "It's about another stray I found in my domain, another one of you European magicians," he then said, rocking on the balls of his feet slightly. "I found him just few days ago; the poor man has been in the Shadow Realm for years, kept as a pet by a group of harpies. I still haven't quite figured out how he hasn't been devoured, somehow he has a similar immunity to the one I have…"

The boy shook his head. "Anyway, I want him out of the Shadow Realm; even if he can survive there it's no place to live. However, the harpies won't release him into the human realm unless they can be absolutely certain that he will be well taken care of here. They have the impression that you people would kill the man if he returned," he snorted softly, somehow reminding Severus of Albus and the times the students had done something amusing. "So, I'm here looking for a wizard who knows my stray. I'm hoping I could have a talk with the man and get some proof to give to the Harpies so that they'll release their pet."

Trying to push aside the thought of harpies keeping a human being - a wizard at that - as a pet, Severus frowned slightly. "I'm not sure if I can help you, but I'll try," he said. "Who is the wizard you are looking for?"

"I believe his name is Harry Potter," Yugi answered.

Severus started at that slightly. Feeling like his stomach was sinking, he swallowed. "And the man in your Realm, his name is…?"

"He told me his name is Sirius Black," the boy said and chuckled softly. "Rather curious sort of man he is, reminds me of a friend of mine actually. The harpies seem fond of him too - and I think he has gotten somewhat fond of them as well, but I suppose that is no wonder…"

 _'I don't want to know,'_ Severus thought sternly, closing his eyes for a moment and trying to get over the idea that Sirius Black was alive. Or that the Veil of Death actually led to Yugi's domain and not to the afterlife. _'Well, we wizards have gotten Apparation wrong; it wouldn't be any wonder if we had gotten other things wrong as well.'_

"So," Yugi's voice pulled the man out of his thoughts. "Can you help me with this?" he asked. "I could probably find this Harry Potter by myself if I tried to, but I don't know what would be the most polite way of contacting him. If I just appeared at his breakfast table, I'm afraid he might react badly and try to turn me into a frog."

Severus shuddered slightly at the thought for someone trying that on Yugi. Then he shuddered at the thought of Potter trying a transfiguration that complicated. "Well," he spoke, pushing both thoughts out of his mind. "I know Harry Potter myself, though I wouldn't exactly call us friends," he said slowly. "I could contact him for you. It would take but a moment."

"Please do," Yugi nodded with a sigh of gratitude. "As amusing a person as Sirius seems to be, the idea of a human living in the Shadow Realm is bothering me, to say at least. I'll breathe easier when he's out."

"Alright. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll call Potter," Severus said, moving towards the fireplace. As he reached to take out some Floo powder he could hear how Yugi took a seat in the armchair near the fire. It was unnerving to say the least to have the man looking at him like he was while Severus kneeled by the fireplace, but the Potions master tried to ignore it to the best of his ability.

A pinch of Floo powder and short talk with a confused Potter later, he pulled back from the fireplace to find Yugi looking at him with curiosity. "Your method of communication seems fascinating," the boy said. "I knew you have a network of magic in your fireplaces, but witnessing it is something different..."

Severus coughed awkwardly, not sure what to say to that. Compared to Yugi's power, the Floo network seemed plain infantile. Then he frowned. "The network isn't in any way connected to the Shadow Realm, right?" he asked.

"No. The network is merely a network," the boy answered, shaking his head and casually crossing one knee on top of the other. "Points in space connected to each other by strings of magic. Genius work, but completely limited to this realm. So," he added, raising single eyebrow. "What did Harry Potter say?"

"He will be here in a moment," Severus answered, standing up. "And, just so that you know, he thinks Sirius Black is dead. He might react badly. Or generally emotionally."

Yugi nodded. "I gathered as much. Two years in the Shadow Realm is just about as close as a man can get to death without crossing over to the afterlife anyway," he stretched his hands and flexing his shoulders. "You said you know him. Harry Potter that is. What is he like?"

"You don't know him? At all?" Severus asked a little dubiously. Harry Potter's name was very famous after all, especially among circles dealing with dark magic. The war had made sure that the magical world everywhere, even those nations that had no part in the war, knew the name. It was... odd that a person as powerful as Yugi didn't know.

Yugi glanced at him confusedly. "Should I? I'm sorry, like said, I'm not all that familiar with your world. Usually I stick with my own."

Pushing away the thought of the boy having his _own world_ , Severus shook his head. "I suppose it makes sense. Potter is pretty well known among us, though," he said, and awkwardly gave a simplistic version of Potter's life's tale, from Killing Curse to Killing Curse. Yugi listened with interest, but didn't seem as moved by the war and the battles Severus mentioned as a normal magician would've been. He only scratched his ear awkwardly and looked thoughtful. "A war, huh. I wonder if it's a statement of how busy I've been or how good you are at hiding your world that I haven't heard a whisper about it. But then your magic is completely different from mine."

"It is?" Severus couldn't help but asking, even though he knew that he really should've been minding his own business.

"Shadow magic is a spiritual power. What you do is more… physical, I suppose," Yugi answered with a shrug. "What you have is the product of evolution and development - genes and such. What I have comes from my soul."

Severus shivered, the hairs in the back of his neck standing up. Power of the soul? That sounded suspiciously familiar. "Do you... know the concept of a Horcrux?" he asked quietly.

"What's that?" Yugi asked curiously and Severus gave a dulled-down explanation. The boy blinked and then frowned disapprovingly. "Cutting off pieces of your own soul with murder? I know the theory of that - a friend of mine had his soul split in half because of something like that. The other half had to be destroyed because it went insane," he murmured, leaning back. "Shadow magic is like it and at the same time nothing like it."

"...oh?" the potions master asked very carefully.

"I suppose in a way all magic I do is like making your Horcruxes," the boy said, almost carelessly. Like the most horrible magic known to Severus was nothing but a simple levitation charm to him. "I borrow from my soul, in a way, in order to complete tasks. But the soul is like the body in a way. The blood it bleeds replenishes, the wounds in it heal, so whatever I give away, I... re-grow. But I would never rip pieces out of my soul by _murder_. That sort of thing splits the soul right in half, and that's damage very difficult to heal. In some cases impossible..."

Severus stared at the youth silently as Yugi trailed away thoughtfully, wondering if the seemingly sane front was hiding a severely mangled, insane inside. Soul magic drove men mad, after all, and if Yugi threw his around left and right like he seemed to... And yet, the boy did not seem insane, nor in any way weakened by the magic he used. If anything... it was the complete opposite. "Is that how you... hm... control the Shadows?" Was that how he controlled the demons, too? By sacrificing bits of his soul?

"Hm?" Yugi asked, glancing up. Then he laughed. "Oh, I make no sacrifices to control the Realm. That's a completely different thing. In a way one could say that I _am_ the Shadow Realm." He waved his hand dismissively. "Or that I am extension of it."

"You... uh..." If the idea of using Horcrux magic so casually was hard to comprehend, this one was plain impossible.

"The original Shadow Realm was the soul of the Nameless Pharaoh, you see. It was used to lock away certain brands of magic and creatures of that branch," Yugi shrugged, shaking his head. "Magics and creatures this world is better off without. But magic like that _grows_ no matter what is done and what was originally a mere locked up box grew to eventually be the Shadow Realm. A prison grown into a world of its own, if you will. It wasn't supposed to happen, but a thousand years and a power like that... combined with the fact that the Pharaoh couldn't control it, only contain it, it was bound to happen."

"And how does that lead into you being part of it?" Severus asked confusedly. How the other could talk so freely about matters as delicate and volatile as this one, he had no idea, but the more he heard, the more incredible it sounded. And the more curious he became.

Yugi smiled sadly. "The pharaoh. As the Shadow Realm grew, he lost his memories, his sanity, his grasp on reality and eventually even his humanity, and turned into nothing but a memory of once having a memory - a wraith locked away with what it was keeping at bay," he said. "I got my hands into one of the seven items which worked as the physical seal of the powers he held, when I was a little younger. It was the one holding back his consciousness. It took eight years of trying, but eventually I released the Pharaoh and he took residence in my body, he and the power he held. And thus I was connected to the Shadow Realm via him."

The boy made a haphazard motion with his hand. "Things happened, battles were fought and eventually the seven seals were brought together - along with the pieces of the pharaoh's soul, his memory. We decided then, that he should go on to the afterlife to join his people. It was his right after being the container of the Shadow Realm for so long, he deserved his rest. But the Shadow Realm needs a keeper; otherwise it will spread and consume everything. I was the one most closely connected, so... I became the new keeper. The new master of the Shadow Realm, the Judge of Shadows, whatever you want to call the position. I think I prefer Shadow Master."

"The Judge of Shadows?" the potions master asked curiously. Yugi had introduced himself by that name before, but the title made less sense now.

The boy shrugged. "An old title of shadow magic. That was what it was originally used for; court trials" he said, and then turned to look at the fireplace, as the flames flared and turned green. "That would be Harry Potter, then?" he asked curiously.

"Probably," Severus nodded, still pondering what he had heard. Shadow magic, soul magic, the Shadow Realm... it seemed literally otherworldly. But then, it was. At first it made so little sense that Yugi would tell him all this delicate information. Having people know would surely be a threat... But then he realised that him knowing didn't matter. To Yugi it probably wouldn't have made any difference if the whole world knew. He had a _soul_ the size of a _reality_. And if he used that soul in his magic... Severus swallowed, thinking about how easily the boy had reversed his death. There was nothing anyone could do against power like that.

"Yugi, are you human?" he asked softly.

"My body is," the boy answered. The Potions Master shivered. For some reason it sounded rather like the boy had spoken about his _clothes_ , not his physical existence. Yugi laughed at his reaction. "Don't worry. I'm not immortal. One day I will die, just like everyone else. But unlike you and most of humanity, my soul won't go to the afterlife. It will remain in the Shadow Realm."

"And in control of it," Severus murmured just as Harry Potter appeared in burst of green flames. He shuddered. To Yugi, a body probably _was_ the same thing as robes were to him. A thing you _wore_ on yourself.

"Until someone else shows up to take my place, yes," Yugi nodded, looking the newcomer curiously up and down, his eyes lingering on Potter's face for a moment before drifting downwards and taking in the red robes. Then the man with a reality for a soul smiled. "Hello."

"Um. Snape?" Potter asked, frowning at Yugi slightly.

"Potter, allow me introduce you to Yugi," the Potions Master answered, motioning towards his small guest. "He's the one who saved my life - and I think he has something that belongs to you."

"Oh?" the Boy-Who-Lived raised his eyebrows, looking at Yugi with renewed curiosity. He offered his hand. "I am Harry Potter."

With a smile, Yugi stood up and clasped the hand offered. "Yugi Mutou, a pleasure to meet you," he said while Severus compared the pair of them uneasily. The boy who had escaped death not once but twice, and the boy who could control it. The meeting of the two was so monumental that Severus was half disappointed he couldn't hear lightning flashing in the background.

Then Yugi smiled and glanced up to Potter's forehead. "Did you know you have a fissure in your soul?" he asked almost pleasantly, making Severus frown.

"A what?" Potter asked, now suspicious.

"A fissure. A crack. A hole," the other answered, and reached out to poke the taller teen's forehead with a finger. "Right here. Not to mention about having a powerful soul - I can almost _see_ your power leaking out."

Potter stared at Yugi for a moment before glancing at Severus uncertainly, but the Potions Master was already on his feet and worried. "Is it dangerous?" he asked, peering at Potter's forehead where Yugi's finger was poking. Right at the curse scar.

"Well... It's nothing he can't replenish almost instantly, with a soul like this one," the boy answered. "But it does give him the potential of using shadow magic."

"What?" Potter asked, now very suspicious. Severus echoed the words, now even more worried.

"Well, that's how it works most of the time. You can't let blood without a wound after all, and pieces of a soul are hard to separate when the soul is perfectly healthy and whole. Cracks and fissures are needed," Yugi answered, flicking a few curls of Potter's messy hair aside and tracing the lightning bolt scar. "This wound is small and should've healed by now, though. But instead it scarred _open_. It's almost like someone made it intentionally."

"He had a Horcrux inside him." Severus answered, much to Potter's shock. "For about sixteen years, I think."

"Ah, that explains it then. It's hard to heal over a foreign object, so it scarred around it and left an opening," Yugi murmured, thoughtfully. "A permanent one at that. This can't be healed."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Potter asked, stepping back and looking between Severus and Yugi. "Who is he anyway?"

Yugi ignored the outburst, looking thoughtful. "Leaving it as it is...wouldn't be safe. Who knows what a leak like that can cause? Give awareness to inanimate objects, probably..." he narrowed his eyes.

"Yugi?" Severus asked, now a little more alarmed, but the boy seemed lost in his thoughts. Turning to face a confused and anxious Potter, who was now fingering his wand, the Potions Master frowned. "Don't," he said quietly, making a motion with his hand to make Potter put the wand away. "Don't you dare antagonise this one."

"Who is he?" Potter hissed.

 _'The closest thing to a god I've ever seen,'_ Severus wanted to say, but only shook his head. "Someone you don't want to anger, trust me," he said instead and turned to Yugi. "Yugi, what about your, um... stray?"

That seemed to snap the boy out of his thoughts, and with a blink he returned to reality. "Ah, yes. Of course. First things first," he agreed, turning to Potter and smiling as if nothing had happened. "Do you know a person named Sirius Black, Harry Potter?"

The words only seemed to make Potter more suspicious, but though his hand hovered about his wand holster, he didn't touch the thing. "He was my godfather," he answered shortly. "What about him?"

"Two years ago, Sirius Black fell through an artefact we call the Archway of Death in Department of Mysteries. It's a department in the Ministry of Magic," Severus moved to explain when Potter didn't seem inclined to and Yugi didn't seem to know how to ask. "As far as we know the Archway leads straight to the afterlife and going through it is a one-way ticket."

Yugi blinked, and then looked a little incredulous. "Gate way to the afterlife? Are you serious?" he asked, to which Severus could only shrug. He hadn't ever been an Unspeakable, how was he to know whether the thing was real or not? Yugi frowned. "If you people can actually create a physical gateway to the afterlife, then maybe I've been wrong in ignoring you as I have so far," the boy murmured. "Though, considering... it might be that you only managed to create a gateway to the Shadow Realm. That... is almost equally unnerving. You wouldn't happen to know how the gateway was made? Who made it? When?"

"I don't. I only know that the thing exists, not where it came from or how," Severus answered.

"What Shadow Realm?" Potter asked.

Yugi didn't answer, seeming to be too busy with his thoughts. "Maybe a crack in the Shadow Realm, or something that got through somehow. An item or maybe a monster turned into a link between the two layers of reality... or something brought through with the Items?" he murmured to himself, frowning even more darkly. "Maybe... maybe... _yes_... that would make sense, wouldn't it? You shouldn't have been able to create Apparation in the _first_ place. But still everyone can learn it, right, you only needed magic and anyone could learn it?"

"Yes..." Severus answered and then blinked. If shadow magic was soul magic and the Shadow Realm was essentially a great soul... then it made sense that only people either connected to the Shadow Realm or able to use shadow magic should've been able to enter. Yugi was right. They shouldn't have been able to create Apparation in the first place. "That's why you haven't stopped it yet, isn't it?" he asked in realisation. "You haven't been able to."

"Well, I haven't really tried that hard, I've been too busy cleaning up, but now I have a feeling I wouldn't be able to do it by myself," Yugi murmured. "Now _this_ is troubling."

"Okay, that's it!" Potter snapped. "Either one of you will tell me what the hell is going on here, or bodies will start hitting the floor."

Yugi blinked with surprise and then looked a little lost, as if not sure what to say or how to explain. Severus took the trouble from him and voiced the troubling thought he couldn't quite shake. "Yugi is the embodiment of magic we don't generally use," he said, gaining a little incredulous look from Harry and look of consideration from Yugi.

"Well... not _really_ ," Yugi murmured finally. "I'm no more an embodiment of magic than you two are."

"Yugi, you can do things I haven't even had nightmares of, and you are connected to an entire magical reality," Severus answered. "How else could you put it?"

"There is that," Yugi agreed with a thoughtful tilt of his head. "But a connection is still just a connection."

Potter looked between them for a moment before staring at Severus intently like trying to see how truthful he was being. Severus answered the look with a snort and glared. "Oh," the former Gryffindor brat murmured. "Is that possible?"

"A year ago, I would've said no," Severus answered with mix of a grimace and a grim smile.

"But... another branch... like transfiguration and charms, a branch like that?"

"No. He means a completely different type of magic. The magic your people use, you see, is only one sort of magic," Yugi said. "You, when you use your wands and create things like the Floo network, are essentially taking your own life-force and reshaping it. Or using it to reshape other things. That's the general magic, the most commonly used one. My magic is the magic of my soul. I can't use your transfiguration, or cast a charm, or throw a curse. My magic is more... subtle like that."

"Magic of the soul. Like... Horcruxes?" Potter asked suspiciously.

"Horcruxes could be called a cruel, mutilated version of it. What we call it, those of us who can use it, is shadow magic," Yugi answered, and glanced down as Potter's hand strayed towards his wand. Then he looked at Severus. "Is this going to be the reaction every time I explain shadow magic?"

"Probably. The creation of a Horcrux is the darkest magic known to us," Severus explained with uncomfortable honesty. He had a sudden feeling that Yugi had no idea the image he was presenting of himself. "From my point of view you seem like the darkest, most dangerous person I've ever met."

"Oh..." the boy blinked with honest surprise. "I... I didn't realise." He seemed actually a little troubled by the concept.

 "If we're the only normal magicians you've met, it's probably no wonder," Severus murmured and shook his head. "Potter, put that that thing away," he added when the teen kept looking between them suspiciously, now holding his wand.

"Umm... I think I should get back to the original subject," Yugi murmured with a frown. "Sirius Black. As far as I know, he is a criminal, right? But possibly convicted of crimes he didn't commit."

"His name was cleared," Potter said seeming a little confused by the sudden change of subject. "He's even been given order of Merlin posthumously," he added before frowning. "What does... _this_ have to do with him? He fell through the Archway and died years ago." He stopped suddenly and swallowed, looking bitter and avoiding Severus' eyes.

"Because the Archway didn't take him to the afterlife," Yugi answered. "I don't know how or why, perhaps the Archway has never led to the afterlife or perhaps there was a glitch and the gate jumped, leading to the wrong place just for a moment. But at least this time it led to the Shadow Realm, _my_ realm. Your godfather is alive."


End file.
